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Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gikuyu: Gĩkũyũ [ɣēkōjó]) is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ (Agĩkũyũ) of Kenya. Kikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya which they call Kĩrĩnyaga. The Gikuyu language is intelligibly similar to its surrounding neighbors, the Meru and Embu.

Kikuyu
Gĩgĩkũyũ
Pronunciation	[ɣēkōjó]
Native to	Kenya
Region	Central Province
Ethnicity	Agĩkũyũ
Native speakers	6.6 million (2009 census)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Thagiicu West Thagiicu Kikuyu-Embu Kikuyu
Dialects	Gichugu Mathira Ndia Northern Gikuyu Southern Gikuyu
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ki
ISO 639-2	kik
ISO 639-3	kik
Glottolog	kiku1240
Guthrie code	E.51[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Person	MũGĩkũyũ
People	AGĩkũyũ
Language	GĩGĩkũyũ
Country	Bũrũrĩ Wa Gĩkũyũ

Dialects

Kikuyu has four main mutually intelligible dialects. The Central Province districts are divided along the traditional boundaries of these dialects, which are Kĩrĩnyaga, Mũrang'a, Nyeri and Kiambu. The Kikuyu from Kĩrĩnyaga are composed of two main sub-dialects – the Ndia and Gichugu who speak the dialects Kĩndia and Gĩgĩcũgũ. The Gicugus and the Ndias do not have the "ch" or "sh" sound, and will use the "s" sound instead, hence the pronunciation of "Gĩcũgũ" as opposed to "Gĩchũgũ". To hear Ndia being spoken, one needs to be in Kerugoya, the largest town in Kîrînyaga. Other home towns for the Ndia, where "purer" forms of the dialect are spoken, are located in the tea-growing areas of Kagumo, Baricho, Kagio, and the Kangaita hills. Lower down the slopes is Kutus, which is a bustling town with so many influences from the other dialects that it is difficult to distinguish between them. The dialect is also prevalent in the rice growing area of Mwea.

The unmistakable tonal patterns of the Gichũgũ dialect (which sounds like Meru or Embu, sister languages to Kikuyu) can be heard in the coffee-growing areas of Kianyaga, Gĩthũre, Kathũngũri, Marigiti. The Gichugu switch easily to other Kikuyu dialects in conversation with the rest of the Kikuyu.

Phonology

Symbols shown in parentheses are those used in the orthography.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid-high	e (ĩ)		o (ũ)
Mid-low	ɛ (e)		ɔ (o)
Low		a

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless		t (t)		k (k)
	voiced prenasalised	ᵐb (mb)	ⁿd (nd)		ᵑɡ (ng)
Affricate				ᶮdʒ (nj)
Nasal		m (m)	n (n)	ɲ (ny)	ŋ (ng')
Fricative	voiceless			ʃ (c)		h (h)
	voiced	β (b)	ð (th)		ɣ (g)
Liquid			ɾ (r)
Approximant				j (y)	w (w)

The prenasalized consonants are often pronounced without prenasalization, and thus /ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ/ are often realized as [b d dʒ ɡ].

Tones

Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low), a low-high rising tone, and downstep.[3]

Grammar

The canonical word order of Gĩkũyũ is SVO (subject–verb–object). It uses prepositions rather than postpositions, and adjectives follow nouns.[4]

Alphabet

Kikuyu is written in a Latin alphabet. It does not use the letters l f p q s v x z, and adds the letters ĩ and ũ. The Kikuyu alphabet is:

a b c d e g h i ĩ j k m n o r t u ũ w y[5]

Some sounds are represented by digraphs such as ng for the velar nasal /ŋ/.

Sample phrases

English	Gĩkũyũ
How are you	Ũhoro waku or kũhana atĩa?
Give me water	He maĩ
How are you doing?	Ũrĩ mwega? or Wĩ mwega
I am hungry	Ndĩ mũhũtu
Help me	Ndeithia
I am good	Ndĩ mwega
Are you a friend?	Wĩ mũrata?
Bye, be blessed	Tigwo na wega/Tigwo na thaayũ
I love you	Nĩngwendete.
Come here	Ũka haha
I will phone you	Nĩngũkũhũrĩra thimũ
I give thanks	Nĩndacokia ngatho
Am blessed	Ndĩmũrathime
Give me money	He mbeca / He mbia
Stop nonsense	Tiga wana /tiga ũrimũ
Don't laugh	Ndũgatheke
You are learned	Wĩ mũthomu
Thank you	Thengiũ/ Nĩ wega
Go in peace	Thiĩ na thaayũ
Day	Mũthenya
Night	Ũtukũ
God	Ngai

Literature

There is notable literature written in the Kikuyu language. For instance, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Mũrogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow) is the longest known book written in Kikuyu. Other authors writing in Kikuyu are Gatua wa Mbũgwa and Waithĩra wa Mbuthia. Mbuthia has published various works in different genres—essays, poetry, children stories and translations—in Kikuyu. The late Wahome Mutahi also sometimes wrote in Kikuyu.

In popular culture

In the 1983 movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the character Nien Nunb speaks in the Kikuyu language.[6]

References

Bibliography

External links

На других языках

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[de] Kikuyu (Sprache)

Kikuyu (Eigenbezeichnung: Gĩkũyũ, Aussprache: [.mw-parser-output .IPA a{text-decoration:none}ɣekojo]) ist eine in Kenia weitverbreitete Bantusprache, die von etwa 5,5 Mio. Menschen gesprochen wird.

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- [en] Kikuyu language

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[es] Idioma kikuyu

El idioma kikuyu, kikuyú o gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) es una lengua hablada principalmente por la etnia kĩkũyũ de Kenia, constituyéndose en el grupo mayoritario, con alrededor de 6 millones de hablantes.

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[fr] Kikuyu (langue)

Le kikuyu (aussi désigné par gikuyu ou kikouyou, prononcé : [ɣēkōjó] et orthographié gĩkũyũ) est la langue de l’ethnie majoritaire du Kenya. Il s'agit d'une langue bantoue, du vaste phylum Niger-Congo.

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[it] Lingua gikuyu

Il gikuyu o kikuyu (nome nativo gĩkũyũ, pronuncia [ɣēkōjó]) è una lingua bantu dell'Africa orientale. Al 2022, è parlata da 8,2 milioni di parlanti totali[1].

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[ru] Кикуйю (язык)

Кику́йю (гикуйю) — один из языков банту, язык народа кикуйю. Распространён в центральной части Кении. Язык самого крупного этноса Кении, число говорящих 6-7 млн чел. (оценка, конец XX в.). Второй по значению национальный язык Кении (после суахили).

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